Nursing Skills Lab Opens

Published: March 21, 2006

Step into the new on-campus nursing skills lab, and you might feel as
though you’ve entered a hospital wing. The lab features a nursing
station, medical instruments, a supply closet, a simulated intensive
care unit, and 10 beds occupied by mannequins.

Dr. Nancy Ross,
director of the UT nursing program, said that practicing in a simulated
environment was a vital aspect of nursing education. The facility,
which opened in February in the Nursing/Communication Building,
provides additional space for nursing students to practice clinical
skills such as seizure precaution, sterile procedure, oxygen
administration and tube feeding.

“We are committed to
graduating students ready to contribute to enhancing the health and
well-being of all who need their care and attention,” said Ross. “This
lab provides the opportunity to teach all of the skills a nurse needs
to have mastered prior to entering the profession.”

While
gathered with classmates in the new lab, Allison Kozloski, a junior
nursing student from Maryland, practiced on “Chloe” – one of the
mannequins designed for nursing education. Her assignment was to use
the “complex simulated human” to demonstrate procedure for maintaining
breathing airways for a patient who has undergone a tracheotomy.

“We’re practicing six hours a day,” said Kozloski. “In a few weeks,
we’re going to go up to the floors and will do the real thing with a
real person.”

This semester, two nursing classes have begun
using the on-campus lab, while other students are using the nursing
skills lab located at Tampa General Hospital. Tressa Pedroff, a
clinical instructor who teaches in the new facility, said that the labs
offer increased capability.

“It’s so much easier because you
can actually demonstrate hands-on with the actual equipment that the
students will be using versus showing them in a book,” said Pedroff.
“So then, not only do you have the ability to demonstrate live, but the
students have a large period of time in which to practice and utilize
us for answering their questions.”

The new lab was made
possible in part by a gift from the Walter Foundation. For more
information, contact the Office of Public Information at
publicinfo@ut.edu
or (813) 253-6232.